The present invention relates to a system and method for conveying of sand, and more specifically to a system of conveying sand at offshore locations with the assistance of motive air.
In the offshore industry, wherein metal structures are exposed to highly corrosive environment, there exists a need for sandblasting of patform structures to prevent further corrosion of the metal.
The platform structures, being of considerable dimensions, require large quantities of sand for sandblasting. It is a conventional practice at present to convey sand from a service vessel to a semi-submersible vessel which is positioned for floating at a typical production complex, which may also comprise a number of production platforms requiring continuous maintenance.
The sand delivered to a semi-submersible vessel is manually carried from the vessel by gangways to platforms and deposited into the volume tanks of sandblasting machines, from which it is withdrawn by pressure and delivered to a sandblasting nozzle for a sandblasting operation.
Such manual handling of sand requires not only many hours for accomplishing a single sandblasting operation, but also considerable labor force, which directly translates into loss of profit to the owners of the production complex.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome deficiencies and drawbacks of the conventional method of transporting sand from a semi-submersible vessel to a production platform.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system for sand conveying which operates on a low air pressure, but still allows large volumes of sand to be transported.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system, wherein erosion of conveying pipes is reduced to a minimum, thus saving on the cost of the sandblasting operation at an offshore location.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus for conveying of sand from a semi-submersible vessel to a plurality of production platforms.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the invention.